I'm retired now, but when I was working, I worked all three shifts. It was nothing for 20-30 of us when we got off for the weekend on Friday morning at 7 to head for the bar. There used to be a bar in Somerset, WI, that had strippers that started at 7 am, and the bar also served breakfast. Tits, eggs and beer. Can't beat it.

Oh, Huber beer. Had some of that in college on the recommendation of an acquaintance in the dorm from Wisconsin. He also introduced me to Leinenkugel and Point beer.

I clued him into Matt's beer and Genesee Cream Ale from my neck of the woods. Of note, the Matt's brewery in Utica, New York was a common site for Junior High Field trips. (Saranac beer is a newer brand. I grew up with Matt's beer and Utica Club.)

Genny made a beer back in the early 1970's called Maximus Super. It wasn't available in my college town[Wilkes-Barre] but sold in my home state of Ct. Whenever I went home I stocked up on this Maximus. It had double the alcohol content of regular beer. I would sell it by the can..it was like crack!

53 reviewers rate Huber Bock B- overall, here. Can you be more specific than to say it is the worst beer you've ever had? That is a serious charge. What made it worst of all?

Let's look at the one guy who rated it F, drpimento, here's what he said, and he had better be good at writing a bad review to run contrarian to everyone else:

Yack! I've had this lots over the years, but this time it got a major problem with butterscotch. I'll try to get around it, but it ain't easy. Served with a medium sized, off-white head and some lace. Color is a nice, not quite clear brown with dark red highlights. Aroma smacks me down wth that butterscotch - ugh. But, somewhere in there is some malt and a little chocolate, good malt. Flavor is BUTTERSCOTCH - BLAAAHH. Can't finish it. Draft lines are clean here too. No more, pleeeeze (tap)

Okay, so he objects to butterscotch three times, everything else is fine. He is the only person who mentions butterscotch.

Here's another guy, RushLimbmalt, who rated it D. Here's what he said:

Probably by far the best of the cheap bocks, but not anywhere near great. It pours a dark, but transparent color that resembles a flat cola with it's minimal carbonation and no head. It definitely smells malty, but not of sweet malts like most bocks, but of a dark roasted malt. The flavor is malty, but it has a bit too much hopping for a bock. That and it's thin, watery body make it a odd beer that I did not much care for at all, but it is cheap and will do in a pinch if Milwaukee's beast is the only other alternative. (bottle)

The remark about carbonation contradicts what other reviewers noted, and his from a bottle. There are a few C ratings, but most people enjoyed the beer enough to give it a high rating. I imagine that people who bother to rate a beer would know by experience what they're talking about. Altogether, the reviews caused me to want to try it myself even though the photo of the building is depressing, like Coors building is depressing except Huber is much smaller.

This is how I imagine a brewery should look, Tivoli building, Denver, now on the Auraria campus and changed to something else less interesting.

Huber Beer used to sponsor a TV show on Saturday mornings in Madison called "Outdoors Calling."

Stan was a large man with an enormous heart and apparently, also an appetite for beer. Each week he's regale his audience with tales of local hunting and fishing and outdoor adventures. His show was very low budget (he even did the commercials for Huber). I don't recall that he ever talked politics on air, but I get the feeling looking back that he stood for some sort of people and values as Sarah Palin does today.

Huber may be the second oldest brewery in the US, but Schell's, in New Ulm, MN is the second oldest continuously operated in the US. Schells has been owned and operated by the same family since it began in 1860. Excellent beer, and fun tours.

That Huber building is ancient, even if the facade is relatively new. I lived in Monroe for a short spell about a decade ago. What a town. Some of the houses had lawn jockeys. The cheese, the cheese, the cheese. Baumgartner's.